Goodnight Mr. Maugham

Great tales of tropical passion never did turn out right Even Willy Maugham's story telling gifts left him sometimes Never liked American girls They're always so plump and white And the past is a foreign country They do things differently there Was a time when children knew to regard their parents' cares My friends sit in basement rooms Shun the society of our peers Though I'm living in that foreign country I'm bound to find my own kind Anywhere I go you know I'll end up at Cafe Americain Same things go on inside Lines in the bathroom just like L.A And he said it like only he could "My time is done, good night" One night down at the cafe I light your cigarette Like a gentleman, the best behavior I know Can bridge any cleft No matter how vast our differences Like me, you won't be anyone's pet I'm down at Hellgate Canyon But I still remember that night I stared at your tiny fist as it gripped My dinner jacket so tight I understood then what Willy reported But never felt in his own life And he said it like only he could "My time is done, good night"